If you need to raise the pH, mix lime into the soil. If you need to lower it, add sulfur. These can be bought at garden stores and nurseries.
Choose flint, dent, or flour corn varieties. While you can plant sweet corn, you will have to harvest it much earlier than the other plants. Choose pole or runner beans instead of bush beans. Dry beans, such as pinto or kidney beans, or green beans work well. Pumpkin or squash works well in this configuration. Winter squash and sugar pumpkins are ideal.
Mark the center of each mound with a stick. This will help you measure and find your mounds. When you plant the vegetables, corn will grow in the mound with beans around the corn and squash around the beans.
If you decide that you don’t want an organic garden, you can use a basic 10-10-10 fertilizer.
You do not need to stake the pole beans. They will naturally grow up around the corn. This is another benefit of growing corn and beans together!
Plant the squash about 1 foot (0. 30 m) away from the beans. If you are planting pumpkins and you have more than 1 mound, consider only planting the pumpkins in every other mound. This will prevent your garden from becoming overwhelmed with pumpkin vines.
If you are trying to do an “authentic” Native American three sisters plot, you may wish to skip the mulch, as it isn’t traditional.
Corn is ready to be harvested when the outer husks have turned dry. If you cut open an end kernel, it will release a milky fluid when it is ready. Dry beans are ready for harvest when they have turned hard and dry. Green beans, on the other hand, should be tender when you harvest them. Harvest winter squash and pumpkins once the outer flesh has hardened. If you can’t puncture the skin with a fingernail, you can pick it.
